South Africa skipper AB de Villiers believes the wicket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for Sunday’s International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup 2015 fight against another main contender of the cup India. de Villiers said India pitch will not favour pace bowlers, and said batsmen should celebrate on it.
The South African Captain added that he has played there in the past and he has never played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) with a lot of bounce and pace. He also said that it is always been pretty slow, which does not suit them that well.
“He also said that in November the last match they played there against Australia was one of the slowest pitches he has ever batted on. At night it skids on a wee bit more, but also one get value for his shots a wee bit more. The dashing batsman also said that it is surely not a quick pitch, so they will have to modify as fast as possible, judge the conditions and try and get the momentum on their team.
AB De Villiers’ opinions contradicted those of India’s dynamic vice-captain Virat Kohli, who said the hard MCG pitch had more pace and bounce than many other wickets in Australia. Meanwhile the South Africans captain welcomed the prospect of playing before some 80,000 viewers, most of them largely lively Indian crowd.
He is quiet happy that it is going to be packed, said de Villiers, whose bowling attack features the impressive pace trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander. The last few matches he played there it was not packed up, and it almost feels wrong in a way.
He was quoted saying: “You almost get lost in the middle out there, it’s so big. So it’s nice to know that it is going to be chock-a-block tomorrow. I’ve always enjoyed big crowds and enjoyed busy, intense games. It should get the blood flowing tomorrow playing in front of the big crowd in a big stadium with great tradition and history.”
He further added that always love playing in high voltage matches, so nothing will change. They are just looking forward to present some class cricket tomorrow.